Basics in Bulk REO Investment

There are more foreclosures in the United States right now than we have ever experienced before. But smart real estate investors are turning these ‘lemons’ into ‘lemonade’ in an incredibly profitable new way.

The real estate investing strategy du jour is called ‘Bulk REO Investing‘ and is a real monster.

Take a just a minute to consider the basics of this highly profitable business.

You can’t understand Bulk REO Investments without understanding the process of foreclosure.

As a borrower becomes increasingly behind in his mortgage, the lender regularly calls and writes the borrower with default warnings and threats. The lender directs the subsequent timing of the actual foreclosure proceedings. The ‘pre-foreclosure’ time starts with filing of foreclosure paperwork and concludes at public auction.

Foreclosure is completed when the property is put up for auction. The lender regains ownership of the property if there are no buyers at auction. The property then receives the designation of being an ‘REO’ or the more formal name, ‘Real Estate Owned’.

REO properties are usually listed for sale with local real estate agents. However, REO properties are now frequently sold for far less than their ‘book value’. This happens because the buyer of the REO is required to purchase multiple REO’s in a single transaction.

Qualified real estate investors are increasingly finding once-in-a-lifetime opportunities in these REO packages. The most successful Bulk REO Investors will have a well-respected source of funding for their transactions. Some sources of funding for these transactions are: personal funds, hard money lenders, commercial lenders and non-conventional sources such as private investors and hedge funds. Additionally, one man is becoming very well known in the field of bulk REO investing, and his name is Salvatore Buscemi of Dandrew Partners, a hedge fund in New York.